The Biography

Andrew isn’t one to take the beaten path. A performer, composer, and rugby referee, his work has taken him to over 50 destinations in 18 countries. A card-carrying Early Musician, Andrew advocates the reintroduction of ancient principles of performance to today’s concert setting. Not only does he perform on historical instruments, he hopes to encourage the idea that those instruments stand next to their modern counterparts as ‘rediscovered’ equals, rather than as inferior species.

Living in Basel, Switzerland, Andrew performs internationally. He has performed recently with Capricornus Consort (Basel), Svapinga Consort (Munich), and Il Gusto Barocco (Stuttgart) and directs the ensemble Primary Colours (Basel). Andrew was solo bassoonist for the European Union Baroque Orchestra from 2013-2015 and principal bassoonist of Musica Fiorita (Basel) from 2014-2020. With those ensembles, Andrew performed over 100 concerts from London to Istanbul, Malta to Stockholm. Andrew has performed for radio in over 15 countries, and can be heard on the ATMA, Pan Classics, Obsidian, and ACCENT labels.

Brilliant! – Katevents, The crush on culture blog

An enthusiast of the baroque bassoon since he laid hands on one as a teenager, Andrew has studied with some of the world’s most recognized historical bassoonists including Donna Agrell, Mathieu Lussier, Dominic Teresi, and Keith Collins, and holds graduate degrees from the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis.

Andrew’s compositions connect in various ways to ancient European music and pre-enlightenment ideals in order to restore the performance as paramount in the creation of music. He focuses on the exploration of early notation, monophony, modality, early instruments, as well as the performance space itself.

Andrew’s other passion, rugby, has continued to take an increasing role in his life. Since his teenage years he has refereed as a member of the Eastern Ontario Rugby Referee’s Society and continues to do so with the Swiss Federation of Rugby Referees. Andrew has refereed teams from Canada, England, Switzerland, Wales, the U.S., as well as the Swiss, Austrian, and Luxembourgish under-16/17 national teams. He has participated in senior-level international matches between Switzerland, the Czech Republic, and Israel, and has attended international development programs through Rugby Europe.

Andrew Burn

Andrew isn’t one to take the beaten path. A performer, composer, and rugby referee, his work has taken him to over 50 destinations in 18 countries. A card-carrying Early Musician, Andrew advocates the reintroduction of ancient principles of performance to today’s concert setting. Not only does he perform on historical instruments, he hopes to encourage the idea that those instruments stand next to their modern counterparts as ‘rediscovered’ equals, rather than as inferior species.

Living in Basel, Switzerland, Andrew performs internationally. Recently he has appeared with the ensembles Musica Fiorita (Basel), Cappella Mediterranea (France), Les Voix Baroques (Canada), and Bach Akademie Luzern (Switzerland). He is a leading member of NewBO, and directs the ensembles Our Very Own (Ottawa), and Primary Colours (Basel). From 2013-2015, Andrew was the bassoonist for the European Union Baroque Orchestra. During that time the orchestra performed over 50 concerts from London to Istanbul, Malta to Stockholm. Andrew has performed for radio in over 15 countries, and can be heard on the ATMA, Pan Classics, Obsidian, and ACCENT labels.

In May 2017, Andrew won the Professional Bassoon Competition hosted by the Fagot Netwerk (NL) in Groningen, The Netherlands. It was the first time a bassoonist won the competition playing on a period instrument.

Brilliant! – Katevents, The crush on culture blog

An enthusiast of the baroque bassoon since he laid hands on one as a teenager, Andrew has studied with some of the world’s most recognized historical bassoonists including Donna Agrell, Mathieu Lussier, Dominic Teresi, and Keith Collins, and holds graduate degrees from the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis.

Andrew’s compositions connect in various ways to ancient European music and pre-enlightenment ideals in order to restore the performance as paramount in the creation of music. He focuses on the exploration of early notation, monophony, modality, early instruments, as well as the performance space itself.

Andrew’s other passion, rugby, has continued to take an increasing role in his life. Since his teenage years he has refereed as a member of the Eastern Ontario Rugby Referee’s Society and continues to do so with the Swiss Federation of Rugby Referees. Andrew has refereed teams from Canada, England, Switzerland, Wales, the U.S., as well as the Swiss, Austrian, and Luxembourgish under-16/17 national teams. He has participated in senior-level international matches between Switzerland, the Czech Republic, and Israel, and has attended international development programs through Rugby Europe.